Introduction
The debate on whether wisdom can be taught has been going on for a while and it has not been put to rest. Many agree that knowledge is essential for wisdom to be achieved. Some argued that, just like knowledge, wisdom is context-specific, and as such learnable. This ‘learnability’ perhaps makes it teachable.
But the purpose of this paper, however, is not a discussion on this debate. It is instead a look at what Herman Hesse’s take is on this debate as he portrays in his novel Siddhartha.
Discussion
Siddartha, the protagonist of Herman’s novel Siddahartha, sets out for a wearisome search and quest for Nirvana. He’s been told all his life never to let the six Ripus besiege him with their seductive and lustful ways. Although quite knowledgeable, Siddartha still feels unfulfilled and so wishes to become one, to get in touch, with his Atman by entering Maya. To him, enlightenment, both knowledge and wisdom can only be achieved through experience and not the words of others. Hesse, through Siddartha, suggests that knowledge is communicable; that it can be picked from others’ words. But wisdom is not. It can only be gained through experience, through trial and error, through learning from one’s own triumphs and mistakes. He says, he will learn for himself “the secret of Siddhartha” (.) and be his own pupil. He explores this stand through the use of a number of foils, symbols, allusions, and other general aspects of figurative language.
Soon after Siddhartha accepts the enduring Samanas, for instance, he comes to the realization that completely refusing the six Ripus is foolish and will not break Samsara’s endless cycle. He tells Govinda, his closest friend, that the ways of Samanas are only tricks with which the people deceive themselves (16). This is a metaphor referring to the Samana’s tolerance of much pain and suffering. It can be inferred from this that Siddhartha does not wish to live as a vagabond. He believes that self-mutilation is not the answer to getting to Nirvana.
When he departs from the Samanas, Siddhartha’s journey and quest takes him to the Jetavana grove, where he is mystified by the words of the Buddha. He says that the words carry to the Buddha’s listeners like “a star in the sky” (23). This simile portrays, as to Siddhartha, the incredible holiness and influence of the Buddha’s teachings. Yet, in spite of this admission, Siddhartha still rejects these teachings because to him, if he is ever to achieve self-discovery, then he must experience it himself. Hesse sees the world as “sick” (17) with the promises of the Buddha’s words and seems to be excited by the fact that Siddhartha refuses to unquestionably swallow them along as his peers.
Hesse furthers Siddhartha’s conviction on experience as the key to self-realization through personification. The river, for instance, is given a human characteristic. Siddahartha says of the river: it “has taught me” (86) to listen. In other words, by being a part of the river, through experience, and understanding the dynamism of the river, its ever-changing moods, Siddhartha finally becomes one with it.
Perhaps the very nature of wisdom as portrayed by Hesse here accounts for his argument that wisdom cannot be taught. That is, he seems to say that the acquisition of wisdom is rather subconscious. Siddhartha, in spite of his awakening, does not explicitly acknowledge it. He only seems to be out to experience. In fact even at his age, he employs the method that the older Buddha also employs. In essence, therefore, wisdom being a character that is achieved through a lifetime, it can be said that Siddhartha is already wise in his own way. He acknowledges that he does not know and that while the others, the Buddha for instance, are not really wrong in their teachings- in fact he agrees with the teachings of the Buddha- but more than this, he feels that he must see and speak for himself.
Siddhartha says that wisdom can only be lived. The implication is that even the wise do not know that they are wise. It is only those with whom they interact who can tell that wisdom in them, the way that they act and the things they say.
Conclusion
Through Siddartha, towards the end of the book, Hesse makes a conclusion on wisdom and teaching. Wisdom, as seen here, is about seeking the deeper meaning of the world around us. Siddhartha explains to Govinda that the problem is not just with the teachings of the Buddha, but with teaching generally. Teachings, to him, only provide guidance and structure for achieving true meaning. But achieving that true meaning means going beyond the guidelines and structure. This includes breaking them even. By following these teachings unquestionably, one is only being the teacher’s shadow. For one to see the light, he/she must take the step into the radiance of the sun.
Work Cited
Mossman, Robert. A Symposium on Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha. Education About Asia,
Vol. 2, No. 1, Spring 1997. Web, Dec. 16, 2011.
